24 hrs in a day!

The other day I was teaching a Project Self-Esteem lesson on wisdom to a class of 5th graders. The object lesson included a jar labeled 24 hrs, golf balls, and rice. I selected a student and asked them to come to the front of the class. I showed the student the objects and told them that the jar represented 24 hrs in a day. The rice represented the fun things they would do, and the balls were the responsibilities or hard things. So I started with….. “You are home alone and can do anything you choose. What do you want to do?” She first said, wake up and make my bed. So I put a golf ball in the jar. Then she would read a book, another golf ball. Then she would watch t.v. and eat sugar cereal. I then poured rice in the jar on top of the golf balls. She then fed her cat, golf ball, rode her bike, golf ball. etc….. At the end the rice and golf balls fit. The goal of the object lesson was to have the rice and balls fit. If the student did more fun things then responsibilities, the items wouldn’t fit. ( the kids love these object lessons)
My point to all of this is that I found myself home alone this Saturday and I also had choices of fun and responsibilities to fill my day. (The lessons just aren’t for kids!!) My husband was at work and my children were at various places. So the thought came to me, What should I do with my time? My first instinct was to lay on the couch and watch netflicks while eating ice cream! haha. Seriously, that’s what I wanted to do. I had house cleaning to do and laundry waiting. I also had important projects to finish. I thought of the rice and balls. So I cleaned and worked on projects and got the hard stuff out of the way. Then I had no guilt when I watched my favorite program at the time which is “Flashpoint”! I really felt better about myself and enjoyed my time alone.
Project Self-Esteem for kids teaches children valuable life lessons that really stick!
Love, Wendy